The regular customers at Neighborhood Pizza often get to know each other, says owner Leefia Parent. / Jess Heugel/For the News-Leader

Wende Geitz

Though Springfield isn’t the biggest city around, it’s geographically large enough so that those on the south side don’t always get to sample the delicacies of the north side, and vice versa. When reader Wende Geitz suggested Neighborhood Pizza — on Glenstone after it turns into Greene County H, a bit north of I-44 — we decided to head over to check out the pizza that’s won The Pizza Bowl multiple years.

Wende's Take

Wende’s an Evangel grad, and her mom also works at Evangel, so she’s used to north-side dining. One of her mom’s co-workers suggested Neighborhood Pizza, as it was across the street from her church, Praise Assembly. That was about three years ago, and Wende and her family have been hooked since. “We eat out a lot,” she says, and Neighborhood Pizza is her go-to choice to fill the pizza and pasta cravings about once a month. Her kids, Garin, 8, and Nolen, 6, love Neighborhood Pizza. “They’re the ones who suggest coming here,” she says.

Neighborhood Pizza accommodates children by offering a basic, inexpensive children’s menu and free drinks. “They’re family friendly,” Wende says. She also notes that the restaurant is always busy at lunchtime.

We start our meal by sharing the Neighborhood Salad ($3.99), which contains cheese, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers. Wende says the best thing at Neighborhood Pizza is easily its House Sweet French salad dressing. Amazing salad dressing at a pizza joint? Yep. “It’s different; I’ve never had anything like it,” she says. The dressing obviously has ample amounts of sugar. “That’s probably why it’s so good,” Wende jokes.

For her pizza, Wende orders a personal size with pepperoni, mushrooms and olives ($6.27). For the price, it’s a great deal. She gets a plate full of pizza that she won’t be able to finish. Customers can choose from traditional thick crust or thin and crispy crust, and Wende opts for the traditional crust. The pizza is loaded with cheese, and everything about it tastes fresh. “The crust is good, too,” she says. “It’s always fresh.”

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Katie's Take

Because I’m a south-sider, it’s a bit of a trek to head all the way north to Neighborhood Pizza, but I’m certainly grateful for Wende’s nomination. Like Wende, I’m an Evangel grad, and I can remember loving to eat at Neighborhood Pizza during my Evangel days. And though I hadn’t been to the restaurant in nine years, guess what I remembered. Yep, the salad dressing. I’m telling you, that dressing is amazing. It’s sweet, slightly tangy and just the right consistency. If you go to Neighborhood Pizza and get a salad without the House Sweet French, you’re definitely making a mistake. I even found myself drizzling some on my pizza.

First things first, though. The restaurant is packed, and the customers ranged from businessmen on their lunch breaks to moms dining with their children.

Our salad comes quickly, and I enjoy the fresh greens, though the lettuce is a basic iceberg blend. I don’t care, though, because anything covered in that dressing is going to be amazing. The dressing comes with a warm breadstick, which I, of course, dip into the dressing.

For my pizza, I decide on a thin crust personal Southwest pizza ($6.69), which comes with chicken, black olives, green chilies, onions and red bell peppers. Though it’s a single size, it would be enough to share with a salad. By sharing a salad and pizza, two people could easily have a pretty economical lunch. My thin crust pizza is crispy, but it has so many toppings that I eat it with a fork. The green chilies give the pizza kick, and I keep my soda handy.

The Dish, the Restaurant

Leefia Parent opened Neighborhood Pizza nine years ago with the goal of running a neighborhood pizza place for the north side. “I thought it would be out of the way,” she says. Instead, she can’t believe how much the restaurant has grown. “I have been very lucky.”

Parent figured she’d offer a small lunch service and cater to the dinner crowd, but it’s really worked out the other way around. Local businesspeople make up Parent’s repeat lunch customer base. “The regulars all know the other regulars,” she says.

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The camaraderie among her customers makes Parent look forward to coming to work every day. “I watch people meet and greet and talk and share tables,” she says. “It’s nice for me.”

In addition, Neighborhood Pizza has won People’s Choice for five years and Judge’s Choice twice at the Ozarks Literacy Council’s Pizza Bowl. “That’s an honor for me,” she says. Parent also enjoys participating because it supports the organization.

The House Sweet French dressing is actually Parent’s mother’s recipe. “I’d always enjoyed it,” she says. When she would visit her mom, she’d always ask her to make double, so her mom finally just gave her the recipe. “It’s something special we have that no one else has,” she says. It’s so popular that the restaurant goes through five gallons a week.

Parent offers the single-size pizza because she knows her customers all like different toppings. “We do our best to be able to accommodate.” The thin crust is made fresh daily in house, though the regular crust isn’t made in house.

Parent says they slice fresh toppings every day as well. “Everything we put on there is fresh.”

Though Parent originally started with what she thought would be a small restaurant, she’s been happy to grow with her exploding business. “We’re just a small, family-owned restaurant that tries to accommodate our families.”